[Python-Dev] Import semantics

[Samuele Pedroni]

Frank Wierzbicki wrote:
> On 7/5/06, Guido van Rossum <guido at python.org> wrote:
> 
>>Hi Frank,
>>
>>Have you and/or the Jython community made up your mind about this? The
>>thread seems to have disappeared after you posted (or perhaps it
>>continued only on jython-dev, which I don't read?).
> 
> The thread pretty much stopped there.  I think a modification of the
> import semantics won't really come up again until 2.3 is out, since
> releases and reviving Jython take priority over backwards incompatible
> features.  For my part I would like to think that a goal for Jython
> should be:
> 
> Pure Python code developed first on Jython should run without change on CPython.
> 
> Which would mean we will eventually need to change the import
> semantics for importing Python code (though I doubt we will change the
> semantics for importing Java packages any time soon).  Whether that
> can be done in 2.x, or if this change is so incompatible that we need
> to think about it in a "Jython 3000" way, I don't really know.

Changing the behavior of getattr for python modules and leave it as it 
is for java packages seems a reasonable compromise.


> 
> 
>>Also, I just realized that you're the new Jython maintainer. Is *that*
>>official?
> 
> It is official, at least in the unofficial way that Jython appears to
> work: Brian handed the baton to me after (I presume) Samuele Pedroni
> had handed the baton to Brian.
> 
> Brian's email is here:
> http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php?msg_id=13859029
> 
> That said, I still regard Samuele Pedroni as the ultimate authority on
> Jython and give him pretty much full veto power.  He fortunately
> continues to watch the checkins and prods me when I go in the wrong
> direction.
> 

as things stand this a reasonable way to go about things, I'm the only 
person with a bit historical prospective, a bit of time to help
(less than I would like still), knowing both python semantics well
and Java and knowing the Jython code base, also I designed how
the new-style classes implemantion work in Jython atm, so I should know
how things are supposed to hang together in that respect, also for 
things that involve the Java glueing aspects of Jython one needs
to grow some language design experience and sense, and I'm around since
enough time for Jython and on python-dev to have some of that :)

regards.